Massillon- Leave it to Massillon to up the ante in the crazy world of Ohio high school football.

This year, the 100th anniversary of Paul Brown's birth, Massillon became the first Ohio high school to build an indoor football practice facility. The massive building covers a full-size, artificial-turf football field and rivals that of any college or pro team.

Stepping inside elicits one word.

Wow.

"I get that reaction a lot," said a grinning Jason Hall, Massillon's first-year football coach, whose career path took him through Southeast, Brush and Nordonia before landing in the high school football promised land.

Clearly, the community that never ceases to outdo itself in support of its beloved Washington High Tigers has once again outdone itself. Tenfold.

The $3 million Paul L. David Athletic Training Center covers 80,000 square feet. Tucked between Paul Brown Tiger Stadium and Washington High, it has the odd effect of looking bigger inside than outside.

And this is just Phase 1 of Massillon's $6 million "DREAM Project"-all privately financed through a donation from the Paul & Carol David Foundation. Coming next is a two-story, 18,000-square-foot locker room and sports medicine and health sciences complex in the stadium's north end zone. It is to include classrooms and labs for Massillon students in a special program where they can earn college credits. The football team also gets a few perks, such as a new locker room, coaches offices and a team lounge.

"The Indoor," as Massillon faithful call the practice facility, is more than just a covered football field. With an extensive netting system, it can house practices for soccer, baseball, softball, track and field, golf, marching band, gym classes and anything else the Tigers can imagine, including a winter youth flag football league. In reality, it might benefit spring sports teams more than football.

Make no mistake, however, the primary purpose is football. The varsity, junior varsity, freshman and middle school teams use it frequently. The 65-foot ceiling peak and indirect lighting allow them to practice everything except high punts.

As was the case when Massillon built Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in the 1930s, or when it installed artificial turf in the 1980s, or its large digital scoreboard in the 1990s, or the million-dollar video-replay scoreboard three years ago, Massillon again is way ahead of the curve, and not just among high school football teams. The Browns' indoor facility is 20,000 square feet smaller.

"Massillon High School is ahead of us," observed Cincinnati Bengals President Mike Brown, the eldest son of legendary Massillon, Browns and Bengals coach Paul Brown. "We don't have one [an indoor practice facility]."

Brown said his father would approve.

"Massillon still tugs at my heart," he said. "I try to explain to people that when the stadium was built in Massillon, it was far ahead whatever else was being done for high schools across the country.

"It was a cutting-edge facility. My father believed in the football program being on the cutting edge. Today, this indoor facility certainly is on the cutting edge for high school football, and it's consistent with what he did many, many years ago."

With that blessing aside, there's still room to wonder if this is going too far, even in football-crazed Massillon, where a cuddly Bengal tiger cub lives in a stadium pen and they shoot off fireworks after home games. Do high school kids need to practice inside? Of course not.

Cynical fans across Ohio always are quick to point out that, for all of Massillon's lore, its 12 state titles were all poll championships and it has not won since the playoffs began in 1972. This year's 5-3 team likely won't break that streak.

Those might seem like huge negatives, but they also provide a way to view Massillon in a different light. The new facilities say even more about a city that, despite so many shuttered factories and disappearing large businesses, continues to pledge undying and incredibly generous support no matter what is happening in town or on the field.

"People talk about we haven't won a state championship since 1970," said Athletic Director Tim Ridgley, who played on that team. "The one thing that hasn't changed since then is the love for the program. It's just as great now as it was then."

And then some.